I Used Litsy For 2 Weeks And Here's What It Did For Me

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Hey! Who knew this would become one of my post poplar posts? Because it was a little outdated, I went back and made some changes. Now it has much more accurate information.

Updated as of March 8, 2018.

Reading broadens the scope of the world and one’s perception of where one belongs in it.

— Marita Golden, The Word

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Oh. You don't know what Litsy is?

Litsy is an a brand new social network created for bookish people to share their bookish thoughts on books. The app allows you to upload a photo, post a quote, write a short blurb, or leave a review. Post can be up to 451 characters (although when it launched they only allowed 300 characters or less) and you can customize your photos in a number of ways. You can add books to stacks (to-read, reading, read) and even follow others on the site. It's a small but growing book community.

Sounds familiar, right? Sounds a bit like Goodreads, or Instagram, or Twitter, right? So what's so different?

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What I Sign Up For

Litsy was created by Todd Lawton and Jeff LeBlanc, the creators of Out of Print Clothing. What makes it different from other social media apps is that it's completely geared toward books and book lovers. Instagram is a picture community who happens to have a large bookish following. Twitter lets you say something quick and easy about anything. Goodreads lets you build stacks and lists and followers, but seems to be more author focused with star ratings and author pages. According to its creators, Litsy is completely reader focused.

What I Got Instead

When I first started using it, I was reading a lot of independent authors or books with limited releases. I had a difficult time adding titles because they were not in Litsy's system. When reading local authors who may not have large labels, not being able to add a book is discouraging. They have made some massive upgrades since 2016 and I can now find small press or self published books like Your Mother Was A Panther: Stories in Verse by Tara Ngozi Mixon.

And I'll be honest, I haven't used the app in months. As social as it is, it's hard to find people you already know on Litsy. I had to beg my best friend to use it but at the time they didn't have an Android version. They do now and one of the few apps that use a chronological time line. I haven't had it crash on me but I tried to post a picture today and it just kept buffering. I canceled out of the app three times and finally posted my book review without it. I wish there was a desktop version, but I'm sure I'm the only one.

Why I'm Sticking Around

I promise to be more active on the app and where is why: what I love about Litsy hasn't change at all. The people.

I once joked to another friend that there is no negativity on this bookish site. It has politics and religion and the same social issues that all other social media have, but it also has kindness. I feel like this is the most honest social media app I use. There is no mask I wear when I post pictures or books to the app. And because the posts are book focused, it doesn't matter that the pictures are flawless and shiny. It matters much more what you have to say about it.

The app users have made it their own. There are photo challenges, reading lists, book clubs, and groups. Some people are able to find a book title on anything they was to talk about- even if they aren't talking that book.

I love that you can look at all the people who are currently reading the same book you are. I also like that you don't have to rate things by stars, that its just thumbs up, meh, or thumbs down. Anyone can join, and you don't have to search for the bookish people- that's all the people!

There are way more things I like than dislike about the app. Those of us who love to read and talk about books will congregate anywhere and I'm happy to find Litsy. It feels like it has grown into the diverse community for readers, reviewers, and authors that I had hoped.

So what are you waiting for? Go -right now- and join this awesome community!

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Have you joined Litsy? I'd love to connect.

About the Author

Black & Bookish is the brainchild of Antoinette Scully, educator and lover of all things bookish. She is on a quest to fill your bookshelves with beloved authors of the African Diaspora. When she's not hanging out online, she's living it up as the mother of two rambunctious girls and wife of a local filmmaker.